I've been a Utah Jazz fan for a long time. I can't remember the exact date, but somewhere in the early to mid 1990s I decided that yep out of all of the NBA teams this was going to be my favorite. Now this was a strange choice considering the Jazz weren't the best team in the NBA and I lived in Jackson, Mississippi. I really liked John Stockton (thanks basketball cards) and there was an appeal in picking a very good team, but not the best test. And for the first years of my fandom things worked out very well. The Jazz went from good to really good (1997 when they lost in the NBA Finals) to really, really good (1998 when they should have won the title had they not called Eisley's shot off, made the right call on the Harper shot or called the push-off on MJ). But they didn't win the title and eventually time caught up on Stockton / Malone.
Then a strange thing happened - without Stockton / Malone the Jazz still played well. They rebuilt relatively quickly and soon they had Deron Williams, Kirilenko, Boozer and Okur. They made the Western Conference Finals in 2007 and had a few other semifinals loses. (In the same ways that the Minnesota Twins always seemed to lose to the Yankees, the Jazz always seemed to lose to the Lakers). They never won the title, but they were good and enjoyable to watch and there is value in that.
And then they had to go another rebuild - this one seemed longer than the first one, but when it was over the Jazz had two All-Star caliber players with Rudy Gobert and Gordan Hayward. They won a great playoff series against a more high-profile team (the LA Clippers) before losing in the semifinals (like the Williams / Boozer / Okur Jazz teams). Then Jazz fans suffered an amazing whiplash of Hayward leaving (and ruining the 4th of July) followed by the Jazz drafting one of the best players in franchise history - Donovan Mitchell. It seemed like the fates aligned to replace Hayward with Mitchell and everything went as scheduled. That schedule has led to always making the playoffs, but essentially knowing that the best possible scenario is winning 1-2 games in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Utah Jazz are currently up 2-1 in the Western Conference semifinals. This would have been their ceiling over the past two decades, but things are different now. The Jazz finished the year with the best record in the NBA and truly have a great team. They also have gained fans with Vegas oddsmakers and analytics websites like 538. They are are the Western Conference favorite. It is the first time since 1998 that a title is a legit possibility with this team. And it is making both extremely happy and incredibly nervous.
At this very moment I am just hoping that both Mike Conley and Donavan Mitchell are healthy for Game 4 and that the Jazz can steal a win in LA. I am trying to be too upset that the Jazz have played their last three games without Mike Conley (their 3rd best player) and that Mitchell looked hurt at the end of Game 3. The Clippers are one of those "super teams" that brought together Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to win a title, so it feels like the mostly homegrown Jazz will need every single good player to play at their best to win. They seem relatively lucky to be up 2-1 despite being shorthanded.
It's dumb to get too far ahead of the series, but if the Jazz win they are very, very likely to play the Phoenix Suns. That would be an incredibly difficult series, but also one that they could win. And then they would likely play the New Jersey Nets - another incredibly difficult series, but also one that they could win. Essentially they have 3 rounds of tough games, but also games that the Jazz can win. It is the perfect combination of the Jazz being incredibly good and this year's NBA being way more open than normal.
Anyway, the Jazz could win it all and I am really hoping that I can post on this blog in the future about the NBA Finals coming to you live from Salt Lake City.
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